Tag: cinema

Leon Trotsky, a influential Bolshevik and one of Lenin’s top lieutenants, foresaw the great power and influence that Cinema would have over popular culture. In a 1923 issue of the state controlled news magazine Pravda (“The Truth”) Trotsky detailed how the newly blooming cinematic industry would be a key tool of Bolshevik Soviet in the fight… More Kommunist Kino

Vodka, the Church, and Cinema, are three ingredients to a revolutionary cocktail as well as the title of a piece written by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was a Marxist theorist as well as a Revolutionary who lived in Russia during the early 20th century. As the Bolshevik Revolution simmered down, Trotsky was made into the commander […]

Socialist Cinema The cinema was really the only practical application of new life technology for the Soviets during the time of the revolution. New found technologies such as airplanes and cars were not something feasible for everyday use by the Soviets. During the revolution when the Bolsheviks were making films, they were not very well […]

Backed by Lenin as, “the most important of all the arts for us” and campaigned for by Trotsky as “the weapon excelling any other”, cinema roared into the minds of the Bolsheviks and the eyes of the masses(1,2). The Bolsheviks believed that this new and revolutionary form of culture would be able to shape the … Continue reading →

Leon Trotsky’s Vodka, The Church, and The Cinema outlines a the importance of three fundamental aspects of Russian society and culture during the Russian Revolution. First of all, Leon Trotsky was a Marxist revolutionary who was the founder and leader of…

The Little Red Devils, written by P. Blyakhin is Russian Revolution adventure story about two young revolutionaries who find themselves at the fore front of the revolution. The film begins with the two main characters (Mishka and Dunyasha) working in a…

Leon Trotsky phenomenally described the noticeable flaws in popular cinema in his editorial from Pravda titled “Vodka, the Church, and Cinema”. This article initially describes changes in early Soviet life such as vodka prohibition and the eight hour cap on working days, but then expands on the potentially devastating, but useful role of cinema during the […]

Trotsky’s essay on the role of cinema in the revolution gives a unique look into the philosophical foundations for almost ubiquitous policies in the USSR. Firstly, the analysis by Trotsky of the 8 hour work day interested me, because I’d always though of the 9-5 work day being an institution of the western world, whereas … Continue reading Cinema, the new Vodka, the new Church.

“Vodka, the Church, and the Cinema” This writing by Leon Trotsky provides a glimpse into what Trotsky envisioned the new culture as. As one of the leaders of this new soviet endeavor Trotsky looked towards the future but also the past. He saw how the old fit with the new, and how the old would […]

The ending of the October Revolution saw a major change in how the Russian workman’s day was regimented. No more would their lives be dominated by work. Instead, the day was broken into thirds with eight hours set aside for work, eight hours for recreation and eight hours for sleep. This allowed the working class new […]